No Risk, No Reward

For David Kiger, entrepreneurship is more than a talent – it’s a thrill

There are some people who crave the stability of a traditional job, who ask on the first day how much vacation time they get and punch out at 5:00 on the dot.

David has never been one of them.

After graduating from the University of Alabama, David joined the marketing team at Trammell Crow, a Dallas-based real estate development, investment and operations company. Marketing was fun and challenging, but the wheels in his head were always turning. He quickly discovered that he was consistently distracted by seeing business solutions where others only saw operational problems.

Soon, he realized his interests lay primarily with solving the challenges that small to mid-sized companies faced. His first entrepreneurial venture set out to figure out how businesses with lesser revenue streams could realize the same volume shipping discounts that the giants enjoyed. Why should big business get all the breaks?

So with only $5,000 in his pocket, David founded what eventually became the global logistic company Worldwide Express – the largest logistics company of its kind in the United States. Today, WWE boasts system sales exceeding $1.5 billion. David realized he was one of the lucky ones. He’d found not only something he was good at, but something he was passionate about, too. He was off and running.

Today, David sits on the board of several diverse companies, getting his kicks from providing the funding, leadership, and expertise these startups need to thrive. When he’s not crafting roadmaps to entrepreneurial success, he’s devoting his time to learning and teaching. David sits on the board of both the American Film Institute and TED, and he dedicates much of his time and energy to advising and mentoring the brightest business upstarts he can find.

David knows it’s a rare person who can throw everything they have behind turning a “light bulb moment” into a business success story. He knows this because he’s one of those people. He speaks the startup language and gets just as excited about hearing of a potentially revolutionary idea today as he did when he first made the leap into entrepreneurship years ago.

The startup life is risky, high-stakes, and definitely not for everybody. But for David Kiger, it’s the only life there is.